Monsters
by Kat-Knife
Summary: Some people say that hate is the force that sets the carefully kept lives of people ablaze into an inferno that razes the world and crushes hope beneath its iron boot. The most frightening and terrifying force of them all is the one that all people paradoxically seem to desire, love. Love is the disease that seeps into our hearts and brains, clouding our judgement, eliciting this..


"Love is the deadliest of all deadly things: It kills you both when you have it and when you don't."  
― Lauren Oliver, _Delirium_

* * *

I walk into the hall, my jaw tightly clenched, my eyes cool, betraying no emotion, my right hand reassuringly squeezed by my son's small fingers. As I walk in, my eyes are instantly drawn to the pale and shaking figure of Harry, who, I can see, has been forced to kneel in front of that monster. The monster himself is sitting languidly in his throne, his cruel, scarlet eyes shining with triumph as he looks at the broken form of the saviour of the Wizarding world. He thinks that he has won, that the war is over, but in my mind, it has just begin. There are also Death Eaters scattered around the room, all of them in their dressed in their Death Eater garb, minus the face mask, all of them looking eager for blood to be shed, eager for the bloodbath which is to come.

When the monster notices that I've walked into the room, he takes in my bedraggled form and then smiles vindictively, his smile turning vicious when his eyes move to my right and take in the scared expression of my son.

"Ginny Weasley." he hisses out, "How gracious of you to join us and it seems you have brought a guest." he bares his teeth savagely at Jamie, whose eyes become wide in abject fear. He clutches my hand even more tightly but, to his credit, he continues to stare at the monster who has ruined our lives.

"Come, join us." The monster says in false benevolence, gesturing to where Harry is bowed in front of his feet.

Jamie's eyes break contact with the monster's and flick over to Harry. His face crumples in despair when he notices Harry's position on the floor. He tries to wrench his hand out of mine and run over to Harry, but he is unsuccessful because I resolutely tighten my fingers around his small hand, preventing him doing so. Jamie looks up at me in betrayal when I don't allow him to run over to his father to comfort him, but I know what the consequences of that action are; he will just be stoking the fire that is already burning bright in the hearts of all the Death Eaters here, the fire fueled by broken dreams, unfulfilled realizations, and lost love. The monster doesn't count in this category, for he has no heart.

"Daddy!" Jamie cries out in his high, childish voice, "I luv you!".

My heart clenches painfully when I hear those words fall from my son's mouth and I have to close my eyes for a few, scant seconds to stop the descent of tears that are threatening to spill down my face. I open my eyes to see that every Death Eater in the room is waiting with bated breath and a sick, excited look on their faces as they wait for their Lord to pass his judgement. The monster seems pleased with what Jamie has said and seems to be waiting for Harry's response because he is looking expectantly towards Harry.

Harry stalls for a few seconds, his face turned towards the ground, trying to hide his sorrow. He finally looks up towards Jamie and quietly whispers, "I love you too Jamie."

At this Jamie's face brightens and he gives Harry a watery smile. The monster seems to be in an indulgent mood because he hasn't yet commented.

The monster continues smiling for a few more seconds, his eyes flickering between Harry and Jamie, before he speaks again, "Now that all the sentimentalities are out of the way, we can finally begin with the festivities!"

He makes a grand gesture and every Death Eater in the hall draws their wand from the inside of their robes, all of them pointing at Harry. The monster himself, hasn't yet drawn his wand, but I'm sure that he won't draw it until Harry lies on the cusp of his death.

"Begin." he curtly tells his Death Eaters who seem to know exactly what to do as they all line up near Harry.

A ball of anxiety seems to have knotted itself in my stomach as I watch the proceedings. I know exactly what is going to happen next and I can't bear to think that Jamie will be a witness to this. I look down at Jamie to see that he is merely looking curiously at Harry. I want to clamp my hands over my son's eyes but I know that the monster will never let me do that. He wants Jamie to see the cruel torture that his Death Eaters will inflict upon Harry.

The first Death Eater in the line points his wand at Harry and gleefully yells out, "_Crucio_"

I gulp and steel my face and heart against Harry's screams, which permeate the air. I look down at Jamie to see that his face has gone white with shock and horror. He, thankfully, isn't trying to pull his hand out of my grasp anymore, but I fear his silence. I squeeze his hand to show him that he isn't alone, but he doesn't respond, his eyes riveted to his father.

Harry continues to writhe in pain, his screams filling the silent room. I look at the monster to see his face turned towards Harry, his mouth turned into a smirk, his blood red eyes reflecting the delight that he feels listening to Harry's anguished cries.

After what seems like an eternity, the Death Eater steps away from Harry and cancels the spell. Harry remains lying on his back on the ground, panting as he tries to gather himself. Another Death Eater steps up to Harry and calmly yells out, "Diffindo". Shallow gashes appear on Harry's torso, slicing his dirty shirt in the process as the caster of the spell continues to move his wand in a lazy manner. Blood spurts from the many slices that the Death Eater is carving into Harry's skin, but Harry just grits his teeth and tries to bear it. A whimper escapes his lips when the Death Eater carves out a particularly deep incision diagonally across his chest. The Death Eater, like the one before him, abruptly stops and steps away from Harry.

Harry's battered body lies on the ground, his eyes tightly shut behind the broken frames of his glasses, hands clenched at his side, his blood slowly seeping through his shirt and dripping onto the white marble floor that he lies on. The only indication that he is still alive is the slow rise and fall of his chest. Another Death Eater steps toward Harry and the vicious cycle resumes. "_Furnunculus_", "_Engorgio_", "_Sectumsempra_", the onslaught continues, by the time that the last Death Eater in the line steps up to curse Harry, Harry's body is a mangled jumble of boils, engorged appendages, and twisted limbs.

It hurts me too see him like this but I knew that this was going to happen. I can't imagine the horror and pain that Jamie must be feeling to see his father, his hero, lying like a broken doll on the ground. I look down to see Jamie's face and what I see frightens me. He has fierce look of absolute hate etched on his tiny face, his eyes narrowed and his right hand, the one I'm not holding, balled up into a tight fist. I follow his line of vision to see where this hate is directed at, to again be surprised; his look of hate is directed at Harry. My breath catches in my throat and my vision narrows so that all I can see is the loathing and revulsion that seems to be permanently carved into my son's face. Jamie looks so much like him, the monster. Panic seems to be clawing at my throat, my breathing hitches and becomes erratic and my vision becomes blurry. I know, I can feel, that I will pass out, but I can't, not now, not in front of these vultures.

Someone is tightly squeezing my fingers. I use that as a lifeline to draw me away from the pool of panic that surrounds me. Inch by inch I use that tight hold on my fingers as a rope to calm me and draw me out of my panic attack. I open my eyes to see bright light flooding my vision. I stare at the ceiling for a few seconds before being distracted by someone lightly squeezing my fingers. I look down to see Jamie looking at me in concern. I smile a heart-breaking smile at him, letting him know that it's all right. I'll be all right.

I look back at Harry to see that all the Death Eaters and their Lord are clustered around Harry's body, but they are looking at me. Some have excited looks on their faces while others look pensive as they take in the revulsion and sorrow that mars my face. The only one's expression that I can't decipher is the monster's himself. He's just staring at me and Jamie, his face closed off, nothing in his blank expression that indicates what he's thinking about.

Without breaking eye contact with me and Jamie, he draws his wand and points it at Harry, before uttering the words that ruin my life and subsequently, Jamie's, "_Avada Kedavra_"

A bright beam of green light floods the hall and races towards Harry in seemingly slow-motion. I watch with bated breath as I count my heartbeats, waiting for the light to hit Harry, 'One heartbeat, two heartbeats, three-' the light hits Harry squarely in the chest. Harry seems to absorb the curse for a few seconds because the light behind his eyes is glowing with the unnatural green light of the killing curse and I feel my heart beating with hope again, 'Harry is alive, he survived!', only for it to falter and crash into despair as the light leaves Harry's eyes and all that is left behind is his cold, disfigured cadaver. I keep hoping, waiting, wanting, for Harry to get up. 'Get up, come on Harry, get up.' Someone is screaming, I don't know who. I realize that it's Jamie, his high childish voice carrying through the hall and embodying the pain, misery, and hopelessness that I feel.

There's no one but Jamie and me in our world of despair. I can feel a torrent of savage anger coursing through me, it's surprising and gratifying at the same time. My vision narrows again to only include that monster, the one that took my Harry from me. I wrench my hand from Jamie's and rush at him, knowing that it's a stupid idea, that he has a wand and I don't, that he'll just curse me into silence, but I don't stop and continue running towards him, my teeth bared in anger. To my surprise, no one stops me, they all seem to have been stunned into silence. The monster looks surprised, he makes no move to raise his wand to stop me, his head is tilted to one side and his mouth opened in bewilderment. Just before I reach him, I do some astonishing acrobatics that I did not know that I was capable of doing and use the marble floor as a launching pad to hurl myself at him. I'm much smaller than him but my momentum carries me so that my body hits his with such force that he falls to the ground. I'm oblivious to everything else around me as I wrestle his wand from his hand and scramble off of him, my body backing up so that I'm near Jamie again. Without looking down, I snatch Jamie's hand so that I'm holding it again and transfer the wand from my right hand to my left.

I point his wand at him, my eyes wide in anger, my teeth pulled back in a savage grin, my dirty, red hair streaming behind me like a flag. I know what I must look like, a madwoman, but I don't care. I point his wand at him and bring up all the anger, hate, and despair I feel at this moment. I bring it all forth and push it into the wand that I'm holding, while invoking the incantation, "_Avada Kedavra!_"

A golden white light explodes from the wand with such force that I lose my grip on it and it goes flying into the air. The light blinds me, filling my senses. I clutch Jamie's hand tightly in mine, drawing his body into me, so that he is sheltered from the storm that seems to have sprung up in the hall. The magic seems to build and I feel pain mounting, I can't hold all of the magic inside me and it bursts out again, in another wave of bright, golden light. The pain doesn't go away, it continues building and just when I think that I'm going to explode, I mercifully pass out, Jamie's body huddled underneath mine.


End file.
